Dear Adventure Park Insider Readers,
It is with both reluctance and regret that we have decided to suspend publication of Adventure Park Insider and our Park Beat newsletter after a decade of serving the aerial adventure industry. We have been honored by the industry’s encouragement and support over that time, but the economics of publishing a magazine make it untenable for us to continue.
The aerial adventure industry has evolved a great deal over the past 10 years. When we first became involved with the industry in the early 2010s, there was extraordinary optimism about the future. New adventure parks and zip lines were opening regularly. Innovations in smart and continuous belays were making it possible for adventure courses to handle an increased volume of customers. The future looked bright.
One of our goals was to give experts in the industry a forum to reach the people who would benefit most from their knowledge about important issues. We thank all of you who contributed your time and energy to that end. There have been too many to name all of you, but we especially appreciate the input from the members of our advisory board. Your counsel has been invaluable. And, of course, the past 10 years would not have been possible without the support of our supplier partners.
Speaking of knowledge, we have 10+ years of articles on best practices, trends, how-to’s, risk management, marketing, ops, finance, staffing and more. We would love to see these valuable archives go into responsible hands, as we suspect there is a path for someone to provide ongoing online content. If you are interested, reach out to [email protected].
We have greatly enjoyed serving the industry and providing a platform for education and discussion. We have established many friendships that we hope to continue. Our sister publication, SAM (Ski Area Management), going strong in its 63rd year, will continue to report on adventure and recreation trends and developments, many of which pertain to aerial adventure operators, so please reach out if you would like a subscription. And, we hope to see some of you at our annual Summer Ops Camps each September where we explore all things summer business.
We wish all of you the best in the years ahead.
Cheers,
Olivia, Dave, Katie, Sharon, Karolyn, Jordyn, Donna, and Rick
Beardsley Publishing
